The world turned upside down.
Harry stared, flabbergasted. Even Draco seemed to be having a slight difficulty controlling his expression. He actually looked surprised for a millisecond, before his usual look of smug amusement returned. 'Well, well,' he said, looking from Slytherin to Fleur and back again. 'This seems to be developing into a distinctly boring situation.'
Harry glared over at him. Didn?t he ever know when to shut up?
Ever? He had to admit that at some points he had rather envied Dracos ability to come up with witty remarks in even the most horrendous circumstances. Now, however, he just wanted to bash in his head and shut him up for good.
Fleur seemed to be thinking the same thing. 'Draco, be quiet,' she said, warningly.
'Be quiet?' burst out Harry, although he privately rather agreed with her. 'Be quiet? Is that all you have to say?'
Fleur raised her chin, her dark-blue eyes wide. 'It is not for me to say anything at all,' she said, 'it is for my Master to say.'
Harry felt as if his jaw were hanging off its hinges. 'Your Master?'
Fleur looked delicately remorseful. 'Surely you are not really surprised,' she said. 'Surely you guessed.' She turned to Draco.
'When you would not give me a source of power,' she said, 'I had to find another. I had to. You don?t understand — '
Draco turned cold gray eyes on her. 'Shut up,' he said flatly, 'you traitorous bitch,' and Fleur looked shocked.
'Now, now,' said Slytherin, still smiling his off-kilter smile, 'that is no way to talk to my Source.'
'Your Source?' Now even Draco looked shocked, and somewhat thrown. 'Her?'
Slytherin took a step towards him. Draco flinched back almost imperceptibly. 'Did you think,said the Snake Lord, 'that when you refused to serve me, I would not find another to take your place?
And shes almost as cute as you are…'
Draco said nothing. He stared at the ground. Standing behind him, Harry could see his hands knotted together. He had been pulling against the cuffs, but had stopped.
'That does not mean that I have no further use for you, Draco,' said Slytherin. 'You have exceeded my expectations of you. Many have faced the manticore and many have died. You are to be congratulated.'
Draco said nothing, didn?t look towards Harry, didn?t move. Harry had begun to feel like he might as well not have been there since nobody seemed to be paying attention to him. He would have liked to take the opportunity that being ignored offered him to do something brave and heroic, but couldn?t think of a thing, other than running up and kicking Slytherin in the ankles, which seemed ineffectual. Its not much bloody good being a Magid, he thought bitterly, if you still need your hands to do magic.
'Nobody else could have done it,' said Slytherin. 'That is why I had my Source bring you here.' He smiled over at Fleur. 'I must thank her, and you both,' and here his gaze skidded briefly over Harry, for the first time. 'My enemies placed that monster here to guard the one object that can return my powers to me. Only an Heir of the Founders could have defeated it. You two seemed like the obvious choices. Especially the Gryffindor heir, since he fancies himself a monster-killer,' and his icy gaze darted over Harry. 'He murdered my basilisk, tried to destroy my descendant — I thought it only justice that he should kill the manticore for me.' His look of hatred faded as his gaze turned back to Draco. 'Truly, boy, you did an excellent job. My thanks.'
There was a short silence. Harry rather expected Draco to make some kind of smart remark. Instead, he said, flatly, 'I only did what I had to do.'
Harry blinked, wondering what Draco meant by that, exactly. The Snake Lord did not seem at all perplexed, however. He walked up to Draco, and as he had done to Harry in the Weasleys? kitchen, touched his hand to Dracos face. Draco didn?t move or flinch away or even acknowledge the gesture.
Slytherin tilted his head to the side, his dark eyes boring into Dracos. 'As your ancestor, boy, I am proud of you. I wonder what the rest of them would say, if they were alive at this moment?'
'Probably 'Let me out of this crypt! Its dark in here!?' Draco suggested.
Slytherin laughed, something Harry would not have imagined he could do. He must be in a good mood about the manticore being defeated, he realized with a sinking heart. They had been tricked every step of the way, tricked by Fleur, the guards had probably been sent to convince them that they really were escaping instead of just heading deeper into the castle. Fleur had never come in through the adamantine door, either. It must have been sealed that way for centuries, protecting whatever the manticore was guarding. Fleur had simply led them there. And they had been fooled. We are so stupid, thought Harry, such idiots.
'You have earned yourself a reward. You will come with me now, and we will discuss it. That is,' Slytherin added, 'if you are willing.'
He gave the word willing an emphasis that made it sound like another word entirely. A word like death. A word like choice. A word like last chance.
Draco raised his head. His eyes looked dark, nearly black, but perhaps that was only a trick of the light. 'I am tired of fighting you,' he said. 'I ran away from you, and I spilled my blood and I took potions to hide myself from you and I even died, and still you won?t leave me alone.'
'No,' said the Snake Lord, dropping his hand from Dracos face.
'And I never will.'
Draco closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he looked determined. 'Unbind me,' he said.
Slytherin looked at him.
'Unbind me,' said Draco again.
Slytherin glanced at Fleur. Then he lifted his hand and extended it towards Draco. 'Liberas,' he said.
